Volleyball welcomes NKU to McLin on Saturday afternoon

Saturday, September 23

Dayton, OH

4 PM

Wright State University

Northern Kentucky

Photo by: Alexis Hutchinson

Volleyball welcomes NKU to McLin on Saturday afternoon

9/22/2023 3:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Watch on ESPN+Follow Live Stats

DAYTON — The Wright State volleyball team opens its home Horizon League schedule on Saturday afternoon when the Raiders welcome Northern Kentucky to town. The match is set for a 4 p.m. start and fans can follow the action via live stats or watch on ESPN+. Saturday's game will be a GREEN OUT and Raider fans are encouraged to wear their green gear.

MATCH INFORMATION
Saturday, September 23 - vs. Northern Kentucky - 4 p.m. - Watch - Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State opened Horizon League play with three players tallying double-digit kills on Tuesday night as the Raiders defeated Robert Morris in four sets. Wright State took the opening set 25-23 before falling in a close second set (25-22) and rebounding for a 25-21 third set win and a 25-6 fourth set win to take the match over RMU. The Raiders finished the night hitting .250 as a group, rebounding to post team hitting averages of .326 and .375 in the third and fourth sets, respectively, after opening the night with hitting percentages of .180 and .186. Megan Alders and Aaliyah Byers each finished with a match-leading 16 kills while Callie Martin tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs, just shy of Jenny Wessling's match-best 21 digs. Katie Meyer passed out 43 of the Raiders' 53 assists, while Reilly Zegunis recorded six blocks and added five kills. Wessling and Lauren Yacobucci each tallied two service aces and Andrea Bortulin had the other Raider ace.

FREQUENT FOES
Wright State and Northern Kentucky meet Saturday for the 12th time since the start of the 2019 season, with the Raiders having won eight of the last 11 matchups. The sides have faced off three times in the Horizon League tournament in that time, with the two schools serving as the Horizon League's representative in the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four years. In 2019, both teams made the NCAAs (Wright State as an at-large), with the Raiders also representing the HL in Spring 2021 and 2022.

KNOW THE FOE
- Northern Kentucky comes into Saturday at 6-6 overall and 1-0 in the Horizon after opening HL play with a four-set road win at Youngstown State on Tuesday. NKU has been a rollercoaster, with three straight losses followed by four consecutive wins and then two straight losses before Tuesday's win at RMU. Abby Kanakry and Joy Banks lead NKU with 144 and 140 kills, respectively, the only two players with more than 100 total kills and the only two averaging more than two kills per set (Kanakry- 3.13 kills/set & Banks 3.04 kills/set). Torie Houston has passed out 264 assists while Katy Topko has 228 assists of her own. Anna Burke leads the team with a 4.50 digs/set average (207 total digs) and Banks is the only other player with over 100 digs (142, 3.09 digs/set).

DEFEND McLIN
Since the start of the 2018 season, Wright State is 50-9 overall in home matches inside McLin Gymnasium after a 21-60 home mark (and just 54 total victories, home or otherwise) from 2011-2016. Overall, the Raiders are 63-15 in Horizon League play since the start of 2018.

A MEYER ASSIST
Katie Meyer has recorded 21 straight contests with 20 or more assists, dating back to the end of last season. She now has 26 career matches with double-digit assists. Meyer has recorded five double-doubles in 2023, including four straight matches from Aug. 27 through Sept. 2. Meyer recorded four double-doubles over the final nine matches of 2022 after jumping into a starting role full-time. Meyer has passed out 40-plus assists five times in 2023 so far, while her career best 52 coming in a spot start last September before dishing out 50 assists in a pair of contests last November. She finished 2022 with a 3.64 assists/set average for the season, however, that mark jumped to a 10.5 assists/set mark over the final nine contests when she grabbed the bigger role.

ALL(DERS) KILLS
Megan Alders begins the weekend with 145 kills, just shy of halfway to her single season high mark for kills (306) that she set last season. Alders has recorded 200-plus kills twice in her career, with both coming the last two seasons (270 in 2021 and 306 in 2021) after barely missing the mark as a freshman with 197 kills. Alders currently leads the Raiders with her 145 total kills and 3.30 kills/set average.